Busch League

In the right hands, the Charles Busch formula  camp up a film niche, turn it into a simultaneous homage and parody, then throw in a guy in drag  is fail-safe funny for anyone already enamored with pop culture. Such is the case with a new production of Die Mommy, Die!, Buschs sendup of those Bette Davis/Joan Crawford/Lana Turner B-movie thrillers of the late 60s, which opens July 18 at the Avenue Theater for a summer-long run. In it, a pop diva in decline plots to kill her husband; in the Busch tradition, that character, Angela Arden, is played without mercy by actor Chris Whyde.

Its not quite film noir, but it does include all the crazy ways to kill your husband, says Avenues Bob Wells. One weapon used is an arsenic-laced suppository, with the attempted murder performed in full view of the audience. You can tell where it goes from there.... Throw in a lot of silly, edgy, crisp dialogue and the magic touch of director Nick Sugar (a veteran of the late Theatre on Broadway, where Busch-style fare thrived), and youve got a true gem of camp. This is really Nicks forte, Wells adds. In a previous life, I believe he was Lana Turner.

Denver native Susan Froyd studied English, Art and finally Journalism at Metro State University of Denver, and also managed movie theaters, sold art supplies and was a buyer in the stationery and greeting card industry, before landing at the weekly Denver newspaper Westword as Arts and Culture Editor in 1992. Twenty-two years of coverage later, she’s still at it and not over her love affair with Denver’s cultural scene. Not so much a critic as she is a cheerleader for the city’s fine- and performing-arts communities, Susan feels privileged to serve all the vibrant artists in all disciplines who make our town a more engaging place to live.